Menu

Another Contribution to Ask A Philosopher

There is another contribution from me at Ask A Philosopher. This is the question:

Tomislav asked:

Are metaphysics and epistemology keys to interdisciplinary approach in science?

This is my line of reasoning. Science does experiments and experiments generate data. Data itself has no value, in the sense that to gain knowledge we need to interpret that data and see how it ‘fits’ in the existing knowledge. Also, to make an experiment we need to make some assumptions, both metaphysical and epistemological.

For example, to investigate the nature of subatomic particles, we need to make a metaphysical assumption that ‘the outer world’ exists and that such particles exist. Furthermore, we need to make an epistemological assumption that ‘the outer world’ is knowable and that experiments are a knowledge-generating method. So, philosophy can act (or acts?) as the first and the last step in scientific method.

Since philosophy can engage itself into answering a question from multiple perspectives (read multiple science disciplines) and philosophical assumptions are needed to do science can philosophy act as a glue that enables interdisciplinary approach? Also, is philosophy inherently interdisciplinary? Can we use this for better understanding of interdisciplinary?

See my full answer here. Check out all the other interesting questions and answers also.

About Me

I am a Philosopher with a M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Erfurt, Germany. My interests are the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology and naturalism. I planning right now my PhD with a thesis on a liberal naturalism.